This invention relates to a method and apparatus for continuously feeding cartridged developed films into a photoprinter.
A new type of film which can be developed and printed without taking it out of a cartridge is becoming an industry standard. This film is automatically separable at its inner end from the cartridge by inserting a tool. The film is developed while pulling it out of the cartridge and printed while pulling it into the cartridge. Thus, when the film has been printed, it is neatly housed in the cartridge.
Various film developing devices and photoprinters for developing and printing such new type of films have been proposed. For example, a film developing device which can continuously carry out developing, fixing, drying and other steps is proposed in Japanese Patent Application 6-75661.
This developing device has cartridge cases for storing cartridges. In Japanese Patent Application 7-240123, a new type of cartridge case (hereinafter referred to as cartridge panels) are is mounted on a film developing device so that cartridges can be more efficiently taken out and reset.
As one way to automate a photoprinter, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 7-36120 discloses a device in which a plurality of cartridges are set on a turntable to improve printing efficiency. Also proposed are a device for feeding cartridges into this printer (Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 7-325350, and a cartridge storage device for continuously feeding cartridges into this cartridge feed device (Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 6-309065).
These former developing machines and photoprinters can automate the individual photographic processes. Thus, if the cartridge panels proposed in the second publication are used in the developing device proposed in the first publication and film-loaded cartridges are set in the cartridge panels, it will be possible to automatically develop films.
But for printing, these cartridges have to be manually removed from the panels and fed into, for example the photoprinter proposed in the third publication. The cartridge feed device proposed in the fourth publication and the cartridge storage device proposed in the fifth publication will offer no solution to this problem, either. That is, even if these devices are mounted on a photoprinter, cartridges will have to be removed manually from the cartridge panels and set manually in the cartridge storage device.
It is extremely troublesome to manually feed cartridges one by one into a photoprinter.
An object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus for automatically feeding film-loaded cartridges into a photoprinter.